Why Should We Cut Our Nails? – A Quick Look Into An Age-Old Habit

Long nails and women get along pretty nicely. Women can glam it up and look amazing, even use some of those nail art designs to take the breath out of a person gazing at their finger-masterpieces. Men don’t have that going for them and it’s a good thing too. Can you imagine how bad it would look on dudes?

Add plenty of other women into the mix who prefer their nails cut short and maintained that way and you will be left with an interesting query. Why do we do it? Unless you want to land a Guinness world record or risk serious injury and several other embarrassing situations in your daily routine, get those clippers out of the drawer and get started. If you don’t remember where you kept your nail clipper, that just goes to show how less you cut your nails, now doesn’t it?

How Often Should I Cut My Nails?

Well, that depends on the type of work you often do with your hands. If you’re going to be working at the computer typing all day or at the automobile shop where you deal with engines and small parts or in the kitchen, including working in a professional capacity, and so on and so forth you’ll definitely need to cut your nails if you are going to be good at what you do.

If, however, you’re in fashion or in the beauty- or cosmetic-related industry then you may like to have long nails to add to your look, in which case it’s a great idea to maintain longer nails than other professionals.

One more fact that will help with how often you cut your nails is that toenails grow slower than fingernails do. Your middle and ring fingers, especially, see the fastest rates of growth. Every day has your nails growing by 0.004 inches (0.1 mm) and depending how fast they grow you can plan your clipping times.

What To Be Careful About When Cutting Nails

Caution 1: Don’t leave jagged edges on your nails. They tend to snag on clothes or other household items and cause your nail surface to tear. Worse, if they hook onto a random item at a certain angle your nail may become the source of a lot of pain so be careful while cutting your nails and make sure you leave no jagged edges.

Caution 2: If you have brittle nails or nails that display some sort of weakness be sure you put yourself through a regular trimming routine. You could potentially be facing breakage and splits in your nails if they are brittle at the time and the longer you let them grow the more you increase your chances on the negative side of the scale.

Caution 3: Use the right nail clippers. So often people employ weird looking clippers just for their look and design but they are so unwieldy that it gets immensely difficult to cut one’s nails properly. This cautionary move on your part will help in productive ways, so don’t assume it’s irrelevant.

Are There Any Dangers When Cutting Your Nails With Scissors?

If you have mastered that technique, then no. you may have seen some people expertly cut their nails using scissors and make it seem easy. However, it is best you keep away from this tool because there are plenty of chances for things to go wrong. Besides, scissors aren’t designed to cut nails, adding to your reasons not to rely on them when the time comes.

Over-trimming, splitting, cracking, scratching and more are some of the consequences you might see if you feel using scissors to cut your nails is a better bet than spending those extra few seconds to go get a nail clipper.

Why Is It Said That We Should Not Cut Our Nails At Night Or On Saturday Or The Day We Were Born?

Other than the fact that this is pure superstition there are historical as well as religious reasons to back up this somewhat ridiculous statement. Muslims and Hindus have a set of beliefs concerning this. Where you’re permitted to trim your nails and when add to their beliefs, ancient practices and methods. In this regard the idea is worthy of respect. One of the reasons for not cutting nails at night can be attributed to lack of light in olden days. It is difficult to cut your nails safely in the dark or with dim light. Hence people followed the “Don’t cut your nails at night” policy.

However, there is no real modern reason why you shouldn’t cut your nails at this or that time. It’s a lot like the black cat’s link with bad luck, it sometimes comes true by chance and sometimes it’s just the cat trying to get out of your way and it happens to be black.

Why Do We Cut Our Nails?

The best answer and the most obvious is that we do it for the sake of hygiene. Dirt accumulates under your nails and gets to other places from there and causes all sorts of bacterial havoc. It happens over time and when you least expect it, making it tricky for you to be aware of. You’ll be surprised how many rashes, colds, fevers and whatnot are attributed to people going about doing their work with long nails that gather dirt under them.

Several times a day, unless you’re a trained combat professional, average people have the natural and totally unintentional tendency to touch their faces and mouths, rub their eyes, scratch their heads and even pick their noses. What’s the one thing that’s common throughout all this? It’s your fingers, yes, so be sure you keep them clean or be sure you have one helluva strong immune system.

About Bhakti

Freelancer, Editor and Full-time Blogger. Besides my husband, I love food, colors, travelling and socializing. In my spare time, I don’t read books. I cook. Yes it is one of the things I am passionate about after shopping. Read More »

About Joshua

Creativity is my swimming pool, and the fun is endless when I share it with the world. It's one of the things that make me want to write about books, movies, travel, great conversation, fashion and more. I like savoring the world, one bite at a time.